


The eternal child

by tayaris_limye



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Maybe spoilers for The Day of the Doctor, Original Character(s), Spoilers for seasons 1-3 even if the characters don't appear, The spoiler is kinda hidden and not explicit but I warn you anyways, also Jack takes a while to appear, just in case
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-15 10:51:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20865005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tayaris_limye/pseuds/tayaris_limye
Summary: Everyone knows that the Doctor's children all died in the fall of Gallifrey, but what if one of them had survived? This is the story of Edain, the youngest of the Doctor's children, how he survived the Time War and what happened after





	1. The amateur spy

Chapter 1

The amateur spy

The TARDIS parked on the garden in the middle of the night, waking up everyone inside. Thais jumped out of her bed, laughing at the sound of the spaceship, and ran outside. The ten year old rushed into her father’s arms as he stepped into the garden, and buried her head on his shoulders.

“Hello, darling” he said, caressing her hair and grinning, “How have you been? I bet you were a good girl while I was travelling, eh?”

“Where did you go this time, daddy?” she asked, and started searching his pockets. He always brought sweets or toys from his trips, and this time was no exception: there was a box of jelly babies in one of his coat pockets.

“Don’t open that, young lady. You can have those tomorrow morning” said a familiar voice, and Lune Birtai, renowned scientist, head of the investigation department of the Academy of Gallifrey, Thais’ mum and the doctor’s wife, came out the door in a dressing gown. 

The doctor left Thais on the floor and went towards his wife. Thais watched (and ate jelly babies) as her parents joined in a big hug, and her dad started asking questions about the past week. He was always like that: he left without warning, for days, weeks and sometimes even months at a time, but when he came back he only wanted to hear the news about Gallifrey. Thais could count with her hands the times he had told her about his adventures. 

It didn’t really matter, though. Her big sister Runa said that once she grew up, dad would take her on adventures too. He had even taken Thais’ niece Susan, a long time ago, so long that Thais hadn’t even been born yet. It was one of the things about timelords: they lived for so long that sometimes one couldn’t meet even their own nieces and nephews.  
Thais had two older siblings: Runa, who was five hundred and seventy four years old and piloted a super cool spaceship in the army, and Ainur, who had just turned three hundred and wanted to become a writer. None of them lived at home anymore (Runa had lived in Antares with her husband since forever, and Ainur was working in Fines as a lawyer while he wrote his first book), so there was only Thais and mum to welcome dad back from his trip.

They finally went inside (mum took the jelly babies from her first, and told her off for eating them so late at night), and then Thais’ parents sent her to bed. Knowing that complaining was of no use, she went to her bedroom and waited a good ten minutes, until she was sure her parents thought she was asleep. Then, she got out of bed and walked as quietly as possible to the living room door, from where she could hear their voices. That was the only way of hearing dad’s stories. Ainur had told her about it, and she was determined to test her brother’s idea. 

Just like Ainur had said, dad was talking about his trip. Mum seemed to know the people he was mentioning, but Thais couldn’t understand a thing. Who the hell had names like Brigadier, K9 or Sarah Jane? Humans were very weird. 

Dad kept talking for a while, telling mum a story about daleks and spaceships. He seemed pretty tired, and Thais started dozing off. Maybe mum was right, it was really late.  
She opened her eyes and realized she had fallen asleep in the corridor. Her parents were talking about something completely different now, but it looked like they hadn’t noticed her. She let out a breath in relief. 

“What was that thing you wanted to tell me earlier?” dad asked, all of a sudden. “The one you didn’t want Thais to hear.”

Thais held her breath. Alright, this was getting interesting! She couldn’t make any noise now, or she might never know.

“Oh, that” mom said, and was it Thais’ imagination or she seemed a little flustered? “I have some news for you”.

Dad’s armchair creaked, and Thais supposed he must have sat upright. “Good news or bad news?”

“Good. Fantastic news, in fact.”

“Well, don’t leave me hanging. What is it?”

“We’re having another baby.”

Thais cried “Oh!” out loud without even noticing. She covered her mouth with her hands, but it was too late. Her parents were already at the door. 

“Well, look who’s here!” dad said, but he didn’t look angry. “Miss Thais herself! Didn’t I tell you to go to bed an hour ago?”

“Uh… Are you really having a baby?”

Mum picked her up and gave her a hug. “Yes we are, monkey. But it was supposed to be a surprise.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?” Thais asked, too excited to think about anything else. “When will she arrive? We can share my bedroom if she wants to. And what are we going to call her?”

“Easy, Thais.” Dad laughed, “It might be a boy, you know. And babies take a while to arrive.”

“How long?”

“Seven months. Hey, don’t be like that. Some species take longer. Humans, for example, need nine months.”

“We’ll talk more about it tomorrow, alright?” mum said. “But now you’re going to bed. No tricks this time.”

She didn´t have an option to trick them anyway. Her parents stayed at her bedroom door until they were completely sure she had fallen asleep.

Dad was right, the baby needed a long time to arrive. The days passed, summer ended, Thais had to go back to the Academy, and mum was still pregnant. You couldn’t notice much the baby, either. But everybody was really excited. Dad said he wasn’t going on a trip for at least two years (that was really good news),and Ainur and Runa visited a lot more than usual. Still, the schoolyear started and Thais had to say goodbye.

The Academy was at the heart of Arcadia. It was by far the biggest building, even though there wasn’t that much people inside. It was fully equipped with everything the students might need, so much so that no one left the Academy except for holidays. Classes started very early in the morning and ended late at night, and Thais ended up so tired she barely had time to think about anything else. She liked school, though. 

Mum and dad kept sending her letters (it was the only way of communication allowed): mum’s letters were very long, and contained tons of stories. Thais’ best friend Maya said that mum didn’t write letters, she sent Thais pages of her diary. Dad’s letters were much shorter, but much more fun. He always told her random things that went through his head, and funny stories that had happened. Thais found out that Runa had regenerated (her third regeneration, she believed) through mum, but it was dad who told her that the new Runa’s first words had been: “Do I really have two eyes? Really? But I can only see one picture. Where is the second one?”

According to dad, poor Runa had been very disoriented during the first hours of her regeneration cycle. She got better, though. Thais’ sister was tough as nails.   
Her birthday came, and Ainur got permission from the Academy principal, Rassilon, to visit Thais. Only one family member was allowed, and the baby was about to arrive, so mum and dad couldn’t come, he said. But he brought his phone, and while nobody was looking he got Thais to facetime with mum and dad. They had to cut it short because a teacher approached them, but it was nice to see her parents after so many months. 

The baby was a boy, she already knew it, and she had been pretty bummed about it, but she couldn’t help to notice that Ainur was really enthusiastic about having a little brother. Three hundred years younger, he said, but still a little brother. Mum and dad had just decided on a nickname for him: Edain.

“What do you mean a nickname?” Thais asked. “What is going to be his name then?”

Ainur looked confused. “We don’t know, monkey. Haven’t you learned that lesson yet?”

“Nope.” Thais shook her head. “What is it with the name, then?”

“Well, you know that names are dangerous, right?” She nodded. “Okay, the thing is that nobody is supposed to call you by your name, not even your family. If we did, someone might come, memorise it and use it against you in the future. That’s why everyone goes by their nickname.”

“Wait, so Thais isn’t really my name?”

“No, it isn’t. Mum and dad are the only ones that know your name, monkey. They’ll tell you when you finish school, like they did with me and Runa.”

“So mum and dad have to choose both a name and a nickname, right?”

“Oh, no. Nobody knows what a kid’s name is until they’re born. Your name is your history, Thais. It explains the best and the worst things you’re ever going to do, that’s why it’s so dangerous. And nobody is allowed to see the future and tell afterwards, so nobody knows the baby’s name yet.”

“But then…”

“Let me finish. When Edain’s born, his name will be written on the sky for a split second. Dad will be outside waiting for it, and he’ll write it down so that he can tell Edain when he’s older.”

“Ooh. Okay, I think I get it. Wait a second, does that mean that grandma and grandpa named their baby Doctor? You can do that?”

“What?” said Ainur, and he laughed. “No, dad simply changed his nickname when he grew up. He had a normal one when he was a baby, I think.”

“Alright. I suppose that makes sense. It would have been weird otherwise.”

Ainur had to leave soon after that conversation, but he promised to take her home as soon as Edain was born. He said mum had already talked about it with the principal, and that they had agreed to make an exception. He also said that it might happen in a few weeks, three maximum. When she heard the news, Thais wanted to scream in happiness.


	2. Zooficus Tempore

Chapter 2

Zooficus tempore

Edain was born two weeks and four days later, at three in the morning, in one of the hospitals of Arcadia. He was a peaceful, healthy baby boy, with big brown eyes. Everyone fell in love with him immediately. His grandma said that he would be exactly like his father, at least in character.

Edain grew up in his parents’ house, and it was soon obvious that his grandmother had been right: he was as curious as one can be, incredibly smart (like all of his siblings) and not exactly willing to follow the rules. He and Thais became very good friends, and it was not unusual to see toddler Edain’s messy handwriting on the letters that Thais received. He inherited his mother’s brown hair and brown eyes and his dad’s huge smile. Lune called him mini doctor when he got excited about something. Overall he was a very sweet boy, although kinda cheeky, and the doctor worried about what would happen to him when they took him to the academy. He feared that Rassilon’s methods might clash with his innocence. But then again, he had feared the same thing with all his other children and they had been alright, he told himself. Runa, Ainur and Thais had been inspired by the time vortex and grown to become amazing people, just like their mother. Why wouldn’t the same thing happen to Edain?

However, the doctor’s fears turned out to be unnecessary. Edain went off to the Academy on his eighth birthday, and wrote home that same night to say that he had a horrible headache from looking into the vortex, but otherwise he was fine. The letters kept coming during the schoolyear, and it soon became clear that he was taking into his father’s footsteps, with a passionate love for physics and the outside world. He was top of the class in physics, math and chemistry, but barely passed the rest of subjects. 

Time went by, and suddenly he was ten years old and starting his third year at the academy. This year he had a fantastic microbiology teacher, and he got really interested in the subject. It really was fascinating, he thought, all those microorganisms and the things they could do. One may even find out how life started, studying them. He started going to the lab in his free time out of pure interest.

One of these times, he discovered some bacterial cultures stored at the back of the class. They had started them at the beginning of the year, right? Yeah, there was one with his name at the bottom. He wondered what might have grown in it.

“Let’s take a look at this.” God, he was starting to talk to himself. As if he wasn’t enough like his dad already. “Bah, who cares.” He put the plate under the microscope, and almost dropped it in surprise.

“Woah, what’s that? We haven’t seen anything like this. Alright, I’ll fix the microscope and check again.”

Said and done, he checked a second time. The microscope was perfectly fine, so it really was a different culture than he expected. He lifted the culture a little to take a look at it under the light, and the crystal plate slipped from his fingers. It didn’t fall, but he did touch the culture with his bare finger.

“Dammit. You have to wear gloves in the lab, Edie. I didn’t have any cuts on this hand, did I?”

Sure enough, there was a papercut on the side of his finger.

“Great. Well, I hope that wasn’t dangerous, or I just got…”

Infected.

Was everything suddenly really cold or was it his imagination? Nah, it had to be him, you don’t get sick that quickly, do you? Okay, it was fine, he would just regenerate.

Alright, now he couldn’t feel his hands. He was definitely going to regenerate. What a waste of energy, he wasn’t even twenty yet. 

His knees failed and he fell on the floor. The plate broke into a thousand pieces. Okay, he was really cold now. Freezing didn’t cover it. He had to get outside, to the sun… but he was going to regenerate in just a few seconds, so it didn’t really matter…

Everything turned dark. 

He heard footsteps on the doorway, but couldn’t see anybody. What was going on? He was awake, he was sure of it. Why couldn’t he see anything? He hadn’t gone blind, had he? Okay, now he had trouble breathing. Blimey, it was like a starwhale had stepped on his chest. Wait, no, starwhales didn’t have legs, they couldn’t step on him. He gasped for air, but still couldn’t breathe. His lungs seemed to be closing. 

More footsteps, and he heard muffled voices, but they were so far away it was impossible to identify them. Someone started shaking him, and he cried in pain. A single touch felt like fire. They lifted him, and suddenly he was burning from head to toe, and it hurt so much he couldn’t even scream. He kept gasping for air, and even the tears that felt from his eyes burned his skin. The fire was taking him with it, like a wave.

They were taking him away, and he stayed silent, biting his tongue so that he wouldn’t scream. He still had his eyes opened, but the world remained dark. Why wasn’t he regenerating? 

The voices around him faded out even more, but someone kept moving him. Maybe they were taking him to the hospital. Scared as he was, that calmed him down a little. The doctors would get it right, wouldn’t they? He would be alright. 

Someone took him in their arms again, and suddenly there was much more noise. Now other people’s touch didn’t feel like fire, but like needles clawing onto his skin. His tongue hurt so badly he was sure it was bleeding. God, he was so cold it was actually burning. How he hadn’t frozen yet, he had no idea.

Someone punctured him with a needle (at least that’s what he thought it was) and the pain was so big he screamed. Still, it got a little better after that. The cold faded, and the voices got closer. There was a faint light in front of him, but he was certainly not going to follow it. He refused to die today. 

One of the voices seemed familiar, didn’t it? Yeah, it was, it sounded like his sister. Thais was there? He tried saying her name, but the starwhale on his chest wouldn’t leave, and the air was running out. 

As if somebody had read his thoughts, it suddenly got easier to breathe. The starwhale didn’t leave, but it did lift a little of the weight off his chest. They must have put an oxygen mask on him. He heard Thais’ voice close to him. The words were unintelligible, but it was her. Edain wanted it to end, he wanted to go with his sister and let her fix everything, but it just hurt too much. He couldn’t even move. 

There were more voices, all speaking really quietly, as if they didn’t want him to hear them. Didn’t they know it was bad luck to talk about death in a hospital? He recognized his dad’s voice among the others. Dad! But he was on a trip! He’d come for him? And that was his mother, and Runa and Ainur. All his family was there. But that was good, wasn’t it? They didn’t think that he was going to die or anything. Nah, they didn’t. Mum and dad would fix this, like they always did. Yeah, that was it. Don’t worry, Edie, mum and dad will end this. Of course they will. And he was so tired… 

He let the tide take him. He couldn’t fight it anymore.

Edain was unsure how long he’d been in the darkness. He would wake up every few hours, and hear the voices by his side, but still wasn’t able to see, didn’t matter how many times he opened his eyes. He was as tired as one can be, and every inch of him hurt. The voices had been getting clearer, though. When he had first heard them, it felt as if they were speaking through a broken radio. Now, he could understand everything. The pain had faded a little, too, so maybe he was going to get better. He’d be scared, but honestly, he was too tired for that. 

This time, the first thing he noticed was that he was feeling much better. The pain was gone, and all that was left now was an echo. His body felt like he’d gone through a blender. He tried moving his fingers a little. Hey, he could do it! Well, it hurt like hell, but he could do it! And he could see light through his eyelids. It didn’t look like he was dying, though. No one feels pain after they die, right?

He tried breathing a little, and was so surprised to notice the starwhale was gone that he actually started coughing. He turned around instinctively. 

He stayed still for a second, realizing what he had just done, and opened his eyes.

The light blinded him for a good couple of seconds. He closed his eyes again, waited a bit, and then took another look outside.

He was in a hospital bed, right next to the window, and the daylight filled the room. The sun was rising. Dad was sitting on an armchair next to his bed, sound asleep. Runa slept on a chair in a corner. Mum and Thais were in the other bed, and Ainur was sitting on the floor, his back against dad’s armchair. All asleep. They looked horrible, honestly. Edie guessed his family probably hadn’t left the hospital for days. It was weird; he wanted to cry and to smile, all at the same time. 

He reached out to his father and shook him a little. Touch didn’t burn anymore, he noticed. Whatever had happened, it was gone. Dad slowly opened his eyes, looked at him and froze in surprise. He seemed to be restraining himself from hugging Edie.

“Hey” he said softly, “How are you feeling?”

Edain tried answering, but couldn’t. There was a lump in his throat. He sat on the bed and threw his arms around his dad. Every muscle in his body complained, but he didn’t care. Dad held him tightly, and Edie started to cry. The lump in his throat cleared, and he was so tired that he fell asleep again on his father’s lap. It was a nice sleep this time. There were no nightmares, and certainly no pain.

He woke up again a few hours later. He still fell as if he’d been ran over by a hoverbike, but a bit better than before. He was actually very hungry.

Everyone was awake now. Mum was the one sat next to him, and she looked the happiest Edain had ever seen her.

“Good morning, Sleepyhead”, she said. “You made it.”

“Hi mum”. His throat felt rough. “What happened?”

“You got infected by a bacteria called Zooficus tempore. It would’ve killed you, but the doctors managed to inject you an antibiotic before it was too late. It’s okay, though. You’re out of danger now.”

“Oh. So that’s what was in that plate. Good to know.”

Mum rolled her eyes, but dad started laughing. Edain tried sitting on the bed again.

“Now Edie, don’t do that” dad said. “You’ve fought the Zooficus for three days. You really don’t want to make big efforts right now.”

“What?” Edain froze in shock. “I’ve been here for three days?”

“Yup.” 

Edie fell on his back, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. Had it really been three days? It was hard to count time when you were fighting for your life, he supposed.

“Okay. But can I go home now?”

“Not just yet” said a new voice. A doctor and two nurses had come into the room, and Edain sat up instinctively. His dad was pretty much the only doctor he trusted.

“It’s good to see you awake, Edain” the doctor continued, “but we still have to check a few things. And I have some news for you, so I suggest you laid down for a second. You might need it.”

“Doctor, I don’t think it’s a good time to…”

“Believe me, Lune, it’s the best moment to do it.” The doctor fixated his eyes on Edie’s. “You see, Edain, that bacteria didn’t just give you fevers. What it tried to do was to stop all of your cells at the same time. The antibiotic that we gave you avoided that, but you haven’t got away without a sequel.”

Edain didn’t answer. It felt as if the ground was cracking under him.

“The Zooficus tempore has stopped your growing cycle. You’re an Ankuris.”


	3. The life of the Ankuris

Chapter 3

The life of the Ankuris

To be honest, Edain didn’t understand a word the doctors were saying. All he could gather was that he wasn’t going to grow up (pretty much like Peter Pan in that human story dad used to tell him) and that, for some reason, everybody thought this was the worst news ever. The rest of the conversation was full of technical terms he had never heard, and he wasn’t in the mood to try to understand them. Mum and dad seemed very interested in it, though, so he tried not to bother them while they talked to the doctors. 

He’d been awake for a few hours now, and so many doctors had visited his room in that time that he was 90% sure he knew every single member of the hospital staff by now. Runa and Ainur had both left once they were sure he was on the mend, and Thais had gotten a special permission from her teachers to stay with him for the day. 

She appeared through the door just then, carrying a paper bag. Edain threw his arms up.

“Food! Oh yes! I’m starving!”

Every adult in the room turned to look at him, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t eaten a thing in three days, it was about damn time he did.

“Thais” he asked once he had finished his sandwich, “What are they arguing about?”

Thais shrugged, but she didn’t meet his eye. “I think the doctors won’t let you go home today. Dad says that’s nonsense, and you could catch another infection in here.”

“You’re a very bad liar, you know.”

She blushed, but didn’t defend herself. “What happened in the lab?”

Edain sighed. He had already told the story fifteen times to a ton of doctors that were researching on the Zooficus. But that wasn’t Thais’ fault, so he narrated quickly the whole thing. He stopped at the moment he had gone blind, though. She didn’t need to know any of that. 

Mum and dad’s argument with the doctors lasted almost the entire evening. It wasn’t just a discussion, Edain noticed. Dad was getting really angry. Mum didn’t look happy either, but that didn’t worry Edain. Mum could be really scary when she was angry, but it was like an explosion: it lasted a short time, and then everything was silent. Dad’s anger was slower, and it built up over time. He never exploded. Like never ever. If he did scream, things were deadly serious. And he looked like he was about to.

Dad noticed him looking and led the group outside. Thais sighed.

“Don’t worry about that, Ed. They’re going to keep talking for a while. C’mon, let’s play ludo.”

She set up the board and the pieces, but Edain wouldn’t pay attention. He was starting to get really worried about the discussion outside.

“What are they arguing about? Really.”

“It’s nothing, Ed, really. Forget about it.”

“If it’s nothing, how come they’ve been talking for hours?”

“Edie, you can’t…”

“Can’t what? They’re talking about me, right? So why can’t I know what’s going on?” He pulled off the covers. “Okay, then I will find out myself.” Gritting his teeth, he tried to stand on his feet. His muscles still ached, and everything turned red for a second. 

“Hey, don’t do that.” Thais pushed him back to bed. “You still can’t get up!”

“The hell I can’t. I just need to… Argh.” He just needed a little bit of time to get up, that was it.

“Edie, seriously, stop.” His sister sighed. “You really aren’t going to stop until you know what’s happening, are you?”

“Nope.”

“Okay then, let’s make a deal. If you’re a good boy and stay in bed until the doctors let you leave, I’ll tell you. Deal?”

Edain’s eyes lit up. “Deal.”

“Very well. How much do you know about the Ankuris?”

“Uh… That I am one, and that they can’t grow up. Isn’t that everything?”

“Mostly, yes, but I think you’re not getting the concept. If you can’t grow up, it means you’re always going to be a kid. It won’t just be your body that doesn’t grow, your mind will stay the same too.”

“But isn’t that good? I mean, everybody says that kids are much better at learning things than grownups are.”

“It has some perks, yes, but the point is that you’ll always need for someone to take care of you, Edie. You can’t make it alone.”

“Well, I have mum and dad now.”

“Exactly. That’s what they say. The problem is, Edie, there are no other Ankuris on Gallifrey. And do you know why? Because their parents trapped their souls in watches and sent them to Earth.”

“What? Why would they do that?”

“Because if we turned you into a human, you would grow up like one. There would be no difference between you and the rest of the world. But if you stay on Gallifrey, it’s going to get ugly.”

“What do you mean ugly?”

“Timelords don’t like kids, Edie. Think about it. Some of our people live thousands of years, and they are the most powerful of us. Children aren’t important for them.”

“So it’s like I’m disabled, right?”

“You are disabled, Ed. And most people feel uncomfortable about it. That’s the point.”

“Well then, screw them. I don’t care. But… you don’t want me to go, do you?”

He wished that didn’t sound so childish. 

Thais smiled.

“Of course we don’t. Mum and dad made that clear already. That’s what they were arguing about earlier.”

Edain sighed in relief. He had been really scared for a moment there.

“Wait. If that was earlier, then what are they talking about now?”

“After they made clear that they wanted you to stay, one of the doctors asked for permission to take you to a lab. You know, to do some research on the bacteria. It’s really rare, so it could help them a lot. But mum and dad say no. They’ve been on that subject for the past hour.”

“But if I could help…”

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. But mum knows the researchers, and she says she wouldn’t trust them with you, not even a second.”

“Whoa. I stand with mum, then.”

“You should. Okay, do you want to play now?”

“No. I think I’m going to sleep a little.”

“Alright then.” Thais tucked him with the blankets. “I’ll be right here if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay.”

He really was tired, he noticed. Something as simple as sitting up had left him exhausted. 

His eyes were already closing when he thought of one last question.

“So what’s going to happen now?”

Thais though about it for a second.

“Well, you’re going to be a kid forever, and Rassilon told mum you’re not allowed in the Academy anymore, so I suppose you’ll stay home.”

“Rassilon said that…?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. Dad’s going to teach you instead. It’ll be fun for sure. I’m actually jealous.”

“Try getting expelled too. We could stay at home together.”

She laughed.

“I might as well give it a try.” But she didn’t sound serious.

“Thais…”

“What?”

“You guys really don’t want me to leave, do you?”

“Of course we don’t. You’re staying with us, got it?”

“Got it.”


	4. Mik

Studying at home was fun, particularly the first few weeks. Dad was a wonderful teacher, and he never dwelled too long on the boring things. They would go exploring every once in a while, and fill dozens of notebooks with sketches and notes on every plant and animal they saw. Dad taught him physics too, but with experiments and a fair share of explosions. Edain loved it, to a point where he was almost glad the Zooficus had infected him.

But then dad went travelling, and Edain was left at home alone.

There was no way dad was taking him on a trip. Not even Thais had gone yet, and she was twenty-one. Mum worked a lot, and couldn’t stay with him while dad came back, so he was on his own. Now, before Edain had started the Academy, he used to go to the neighbors’ while dad was away, but now that he was an Ankuris they didn’t like him there. When he heard about it, dad had said that timelords were one of the most snobbish species in the universe, and told Edain not to go to the neighbors’ again.

End result, Edain was on his own for two weeks.

The first day wasn’t bad. He kept on with his work on gamma radiation, saw a couple of human movies (it was really funny how they did the animation, and they were alien, which was already interesting in itself) and perfected his drawings on the fauna from the Andhera caves. It was all great, but he was completely bored as soon as the second day started.  
Mum had just got out the door, and he was already climbing the walls in frustration. 

“Okay, so let’s find something to do.” There it was. He was talking to himself again. “I already finished all my homework, so there’s nothing to do with that. And I can’t go exploring because mum has the keys of the hoverbike. Well, I could go walking, but I wouldn’t go far, right? How far away are the Andhera caves?”

A quick check ended with his plan. The caves were definitely too far away, at least with the hoverbike he could ride. There was a bigger one, the one he used when he went with dad, but his feet didn’t reach the pedals. So he couldn’t go to the caves.

“I want to build something. I’ve been studying robotics for ages and never built anything valuable. No, the robots from the academy don’t count. Those couldn’t think a damn thing, I had to direct every single one of their actions. I want to do a proper robot. Hey, that’s not a bad idea, is it? Nah, I think it’s good. Well then, let’s do a robot.”

It was much easier said than done, obviously. He spent two days deciding what he wanted the android to do: Fly? Jump? Talk? Solve mathematical equations? Should it have hands? And what shape was it going to have? How was he going to power it? It should be self-sufficient, what if he was in an emergency and couldn’t charge it? Okay then, what kind of engines? And what size?

In the end he decided on a monkey the size of his forearm, powered by a PS reactor. The PS was an invention of his sister Runa, and still a prototype. This was a little risky, because he wasn’t supposed to know about it. Runa had simply left her sketches on dad’s desk and, you know, things get lost.

Anyways, Runa hadn’t launched the product yet because there was a problem with the conductors. She couldn’t find a material that had enough resistance for big projects, but according to her notes, adamantium worked fine with small machines.

It was an obvious choice, then. The reactor would use adamantium.

The PS reactor was by far the hardest part to build. It really was complicated, and there were a few inconsistencies in Runa’s notes, that he had to find and correct. His sister was super clever, but her math left much to be desired. Edain made a mental note to get her a calculator for New Year’s Eve. He had to dedicate two more days only to understand and correct the notes. Once he’d done that, he realized that he didn’t need adamantium, much harder to find, and that an alloy of sandor and bronze would do the job brilliantly. 

Another mental note: get the checked document to his sister.

After that, he started programming the android. He wanted it to do a ton of things: jump, climb things, think… He had to have a sense of humor, obviously, and be able to play video games. The only problem was that it involved an awful lot of programming. He spent four days in front of the screen.

Finally, he could start building his robot.

The first thing was, obviously, the reactor. Building a PS reactor sounds as easy as its name: Polyatomic Subdivision. Even more if it’s done in a basement and without supervision of any kind. But Edain hadn’t been top of his class for nothing. It took him three more days (and quite a lot of accidents)to get it right. 

The two days left, he spent them making and putting together all the other pieces.

And finally, on the night of the fourteenth day, the android woke up.

“Hello, bud.” The android raised his head upon hearing Edain’s voice. The lights in his eyes flickered, and he smiled. “Okay, you should already know all of this, but I’m going to explain it just in case, alright?” The monkey nodded very seriously and sat on the table, right in front of him.

“I’m Edain, or Edie, people call me both names. And we’re friends. We’re at my home right now, and we can’t make much noise, because my mum is sleeping and she doesn’t know that we’re awake. This is my bedroom. And your name is… uh… Oops, I didn’t think of one. Wait a minute.”

Goddammit, Edie, you can’t plan him so well and not give him a name. Shame on you.

“I’ll call you Mik.” He said after thinking for a few seconds. “Yeah, I think it suits you. Do you like it?”

Mik squeaked happily and jumped onto Edain’s head laughing.

“Hey, don’t do that. Mik, no! Oi, don’t get into my shirt! Mik, you’re tickling me!”

Mik obviously knew that, and Edain started laughing so much he couldn’t stand straight and fell on the bed. Mik’s face appeared through the collar of his pajama, looking confused.

“Huh?” he squeaked.

“I’m fine, bud, don’t worry. But don’t do that again, mum’s asleep.”

Mik pouted, and Edain started laughing again.

“Hey, I’m sorry, but it’s really late. Wait, I have an idea. Let’s go outside.”

They climbed up to the roof as silently as possible, which wasn’t exactly quiet. Mik was super excited about going somewhere new (Ed had to remind himself that everything was new for him quite a few times) and kept getting inside his shirt and tickling him out of excitement.

“We’re going to have to work on your self-control, bud. Keep screaming like that and you’ll wake up mum.”

But it was no use to get serious. He was too excited. 

Finally they arrived to the roof, and Mik went still immediately. His eyes were wide open in surprise, and he was clearly thinking something like: “Woooow.”

Edain sat on the roof and put Mik on his shoulder so he could have a better view. He had already seen the night sky hundreds of times, but it really was breathtaking. 

“See those stars over there?” He pointed up, and Mik climbed his arm to see better. “That’s the constellation of Limyè. It marks the North, so if you ever get lost, you just have to look at it. My dad has promised we’ll visit it one day.”

“He travels a lot, you know.” Mik was back on his shoulder now, leaning against his ear. “He has a super cool spaceship called the TARDIS, and he can travel in time. But we’re timelords, so that’s obvious. No, you’re not a timelord, dummy. Just me and mum and dad. You’re an android.”

Mik looked disappointed.

“Hey, it’s not that bad to be an android. You can’t get sick. And it doesn’t hurt you whatever happens. You just shut down. I can’t do that. Well, yeah, of course I get hurt! I was just in the hospital two months ago. And it wasn’t fun.”

He was getting a bit sleepy. The wind was warm despite it being late, and suddenly it was hard to keep his eyes open.

“I’ll have to introduce you to my family, you should know them. You’ll like Thais, she’s great, but she’s never home because of the Academy… Hey! Why did you do that?”

Mik was standing on top of his head, pulling his hair. Edain looked forward and realized he had been slipping down the roof.

“Oh, right. Thanks, bud. You know what? We should go to sleep. C’mon, tomorrow I’ll show you the rest of the house.”

Mik sat on his shoulder, looking quite satisfied with himself, and they went back inside. They both fell asleep instantly, boy and android.


	5. A hundred years of life

*Record scratch* *Freeze frame over Edain’s face* *Cue narrator’s voice* *As she speaks, the pictures change to show what she’s talking about*

Narrator: Okay, let’s jump a little in time. And by “a little” I mean a hundred years. I know it seems like a lot for us humans, but considering that (and I’m quoting the Second Doctor), barring accidents, timelords basically live forever, a hundred years is really not that long. I bet now you’re starting to get exactly why children are so unappreciated in Gallifrey. Anyways, let’s do a quick roundup of the past hundred years so you know what’s been going on, and where we are now.

Edain is still a child, as you might suppose (the story is called The eternal child, did you expect anything different?), but he looks different. When he was eighty-three, there was an earthquake (Galliquake? Gallifrake?) and a house fell on him. He survived, but the injuries were too big and he regenerated. He’s even changed races this time. His first self was white, this one is Arabic. He has straight black hair (and he wears it long, in a ponytail, because he’s cool like that), and dark eyes. He’s a bit taller than the last time, which is great, but there was a bit of a problem with the regeneration because Mik didn’t recognize him at first. They had to shut him down and change the programming so that he would recognize Edain even after regenerations, or any timelord that he knows. There were no more problems after that. 

He’s also started other projects. He went on his first trip with the doctor to Limyè and Earth, and took Mik with him, obviously. Mik loved it as much as Edain did, so after they came back Edain decided he wanted a spaceship for himself. And not any kind of spaceship: he wanted it to be bigger on the inside, and be able to travel through time as well as space. Basically, he wanted a TARDIS of his own (and who wouldn’t?). His parents said they were not going to buy him one, so he decided to build it himself. The Doctor agreed this time, mostly because he wanted to see how far he could come. It took Edie a really long time to do the designs (months, actually), but he eventually finished, and started building his spaceship. I’ll spare you the technical details, just know that he did design everything by himself, and his father was very surprised with the outcome. At the time we get back to the story, he’s still building it, and it’s going to take him a really long time, because it’s a complicated project. Mik is the only one allowed to help him, because he wants it to be completely his. He’s a little stubborn, so it’s unlikely anybody else will help with the spaceship.

By the way, Tardises are grown, not built, so Edie’s spaceship is not going to be a TARDIS. It will have another name so it’s easier to differentiate them.

Edain’s already old enough to have finished the Academy (timelords graduate at the age of 45), and the doctor has stopped teaching him. They still have scientific discussions when Edie feels like it. He’s keeping balance between his century and his ten year old self. Basically, this means that he acts like a kid most of the time, and has all the optimism and imagination of a child, but he knows damn well how the world is, and understands very well what’s going on around him. For example, he can hold his own in a conversation with Rassilon, who is no longer principal of the Academy but presides the Senate of Gallifrey, and impress him (it has happened a few times), but he still plays gobstones, gets tired easily and requests a bedtime story every once in a while. The doctor has actually started telling him the stories of his trips, which he never did with his other children. They don’t know about this, though.

As for the Doctor, he has regenerated quite a few times and is about 1700 years old (This might seem confusing for some people. The ninth doctor is 900 years old in season 1 of New Who, but according to Russell T. Davies, this is because the Time War left him de-aged. A Time War uses time as a weapon too, not just missiles and exterminating rays, and the Doctor was really scarred in the last Time War, so he de-aged a lot. Keep in mind that the Time War lasted 400 years, so the bomb that destroyed Gallifrey de-aged him 1200 years. This is all canon, by the way). For reference, the Doctor we’re talking about now is the War Doctor (if that doesn’t serve as a hint of where we are in the story, I don’t know what does). Also remember that he’s a time traveler, so his time stream is different from that of his family. For Edain it has been a hundred years, but for the doctor almost a thousand. At the beginning of the story he was around 800, so it’s been about 900 years in between trips. 

I know this makes him sound like a horrible father, but this is the Doctor we’re talking about. He didn’t see River Song that much during the time they coincided, and nobody doubts that he loves her to death, for example. The same thing happens with his children and wife in Gallifrey. This situation is quite common amongst timelords (at least in my headcanon). They live forever, so it makes sense they don’t want to be together forever (if you live with someone for a really extended period of time you can end up hating them. Imagine how it is for timelords). However, he does travel with his wife quite a lot, and with his older children. He just doesn’t take Edain out that much, because he’s a kid. He is actually careful when travelling with Edie (and by careful I mean super careful. And the TARDIS doesn’t mess up with the destinations while he’s on board), and doesn’t take him anywhere dangerous. 

Thais has travelled a lot with the Doctor during this time as well. So much, actually, that she’s aged a hundred years more than Edain has. This means she’s two hundred and twenty years old when the story starts. She’s become a lawyer, by the way, and has left home already, so it’s just Edain and his parents now. She’s regenerated too: she’s kept her blond hair, but that’s basically it. Now it’s curly and longer, and she has big green eyes and is quite short. Edie and her are not so close anymore. She lives far away now, and they don’t see each other so much. But she and her wife are adopting a baby, and they have promised Edain that he will be the godfather (Time lords do have godparents, Eleven mentions it in Vincent and the Doctor). 

In other news, Ainur has become a father as well. He got married to an army pilot fifty years ago, and they’ve had two kids: Amser and Sarari. Amser is the oldest, and he’s about to graduate from the Academy, while Sarari is still younger than Edain. She’s just six. Ainur has also become a writer, as he wanted, and has become one of the most renowned fiction writers of Gallifrey. 

Runa’s life hasn’t changed much, to be honest. Edain got her the checked notes after he built Mik (he didn’t really have a choice other than admit that he’d stolen her design), so she launched the PS as soon as she saw the corrections (and checked that they were correct). The PS is widely used now for small ships, such as the Wing-X and the Orion (any of its versions in this case), but Edain’s will be the first big aircraft to use a PS reactor at its core. This is the reason why Runa has actually insisted a lot in helping Edain, but it’s really no use. Oh, and Edain’s name is in the copyright for the PS, as a co-inventor. Runa is the official inventor, but Edie gets a small share of the sales. That way he can help a little at home (no one will let him work for them), and it’s not a bad statement against all those that say Ankuris can’t do anything.

His family still gets some hate for his condition. Most of the people they know still think that Edain should be sent to Earth to live as a human, but they know his parents and have stopped insisting. The Doctor has already earned his title of Oncoming Storm (but not Destroyer of the Worlds yet), and even other timelords know not to mess with him. Rassilon in particular has had quite a few arguments with the Doctor on this subject, but eventually gave up. And for those that wanted to turn Ed into a lab’s rat, they haven’t even tried anything since he went out of the hospital for the first time. They don’t dare try and convince his mother. 

*The image shakes, and we hear Edie’s voice in the background, calling Mik for something. A few strange noises, and then silence*


	6. The calm before the storm

One got used to being an Ankuris after a few decades. Edain only had one complaint: why did everyone think that he didn’t understand a damn thing? Seriously, he was a kid, not an idiot. He’d stopped caring about what strangers might say, but if mum and dad thought that they could keep their super serious conversations a secret, they were very wrong. Especially since they were talking about it with his siblings, and even some of their children.

The house was particularly full that night. It was New Year’s Eve, one of the most important holidays in Gallifrey, and everybody had come to celebrate. Edain’s siblings, their respective spouses and children, and even dad’s parents had come for dinner. Edie had already left the table, knowing that the interesting part of the conversation wouldn’t start until he and the other children were out of the dining room. 

The other children, by the way, were his niece Sarari, Ainur’s daughter, and his nephew Cahay, Runa’s youngest son. They were quite fun most of the time, but Ed wasn’t in the mood for games at that moment, so he made sure to be the first one to leave. He ran upstairs as soon as he was out of sight.

Mik was in his bedroom, snoozing on the swing that Ed had built for him years ago. He actually snored a little, but it wasn’t annoying, more like a hum. 

“Mik, wake up” the monkey opened his eyes a millimeter and immediately closed them. Ed tickled him, impatient.

“C’mon, bud, this is important. I think they’re going to talk about the war. Miiik… Hey, we’ve got to know what happens in the world. Get your ass up and let’s go.”

Mik got up groaning and climbed up to Ed’s shoulder.

“You’re such a baby it’s crazy, bud.” Laughed Edie when he saw Mik’s expression. “Alright, here we go.”

There was no way of getting from the third floor to the second without being spotted by Sarari and Cahay, so he climbed out of the window and down to the window right above the living room. It was his mum’s office, and the door was always locked unless she was inside. But it was super easy to open the window with a sonic screwdriver, and of course, he happened to have one. All those days in the workshop definitely paid off.

He sneaked inside the office and checked that the door was locked. Mik appeared through the window dangling from a cord, swung inside and landed straight on Edain’s face.  
“Ow!” Edain tripped and found himself sitting on the floor with Mik laughing on his lap. “Mik, you’re made of metal. You can’t just throw yourself at people!”

Mik kept laughing and climbed up to his head. With a sigh, Edie got up and covered Mik’s mouth, making silence in the room. The adults’ voices entered the study through the open window, and Edie felt a shiver down his spine. He sat on the windowsill and listened.

“…have started serious training already.” was saying Runa. “No one says it’s for war, but they’re incorporating newer weapons in the strategies.”

“Even time weapons?” asked Edain’s grandfather.

“Not yet, at least not in general practice.” Said Runa’s husband, Ledakan. “Still, some of my colleagues have been selected for special training. It’s all secret, but I overheard a conversation in which they mentioned the Nightmare Child.”

There were a few moments of silence. Ed had no idea what the Nightmare Child was, but it didn’t sound particularly pleasing.

“What does the High Command say, Runa?” asked Ainur. “About this, I mean.”

“Depends on who you talk to. General Sumrak, the one that commands my division, is against any confrontation, but Valgus instigates it. I suppose it is only a matter of time before most generals agree with him.”

“That’s not the biggest problem, though.” Intervened Ed’s mum. “The Army High Command can’t do anything unless the Senate approves, but with Rassilon at its head, it’s clear what he will do.”

“Rassilon?” That was Amser. “Isn’t that the guy that expelled uncle Edain from the Academy?”

“Yup.” Said the Doctor. “And that’s a true testimony to his character. He defends so much his idea of timelord superiority that he won’t accept anything that doesn’t fit it. He still insists that we should send Ed to Earth, and it’s been a hundred years.”

“I don’t get it. What does that have to do with the war?”

“The daleks are a threat to the timelords, Amser.” The Doctor explained. “We are two of the greatest civilizations in the universe, probably the best two. If Rassilon can’t stand a child timelord, who is the same species as him, what makes you think he will want to make peace with the daleks, who couldn’t be more different? Him expelling Ed is just an example of how he thinks: before the Zooficus, mum and I received letters from Rassilon each month, praising him and talking about what he would achieve when he was older. After the infection, he didn’t even show up. He sent us a note saying Edain was no longer welcome at the Academy, and that was it. If that’s his attitude in time of peace, I don’t want to imagine what it will be like at war.”

“The best thing about that is that Ed is still smarter than Rassilon” said Thais, and Edie blushed proudly. “That spaceship he’s building will be one of the best ones in Gallifrey. Only Tardises will beat it. And he’s one hundred and ten.”

“How old is Rassilon?”

“He’s going on three thousand, I think.” Said Ed’s grandma. “It’s hard to say with all the time travel.”

“Beat by a hundred year old” Ainur laughed. “I know Ed’s not your common timelord, but honestly, Rassilon had it coming. Do you think he could convince the Senate to go to war, grandma?”

“I think he’s already doing it” grandma said grimly. “This idea of timelord superiority is very common, unfortunately. Rassilon is just much more convinced than the others.” 

“How many do you think would refuse?”

“Realistically? Me and Setia.”

“That’s it?”

“I’m absolutely serious about this, son. If Rassilon reaches everybody in the Senate, Gallifrey goes to war.”

“Well then, I suppose we’ll have to go war too.” The Doctor said, and again there was silence. Ed closed his eyes in an effort to control the fear. His father was the best dad, and the kindest when he wanted to, but even Ed had heard the stories about the Doctor from Gallifrey, Greatest Warrior of Them All, The Oncoming Storm. He wondered what title he’d end up with this time, if he really went to war against the daleks.

He felt something on his ear and noticed that Mik, worried, was rubbing his head against it.

“I’s okay, bud.” He tried to sound optimistic. “Dad won’t let anything happen to us.”

Mik nodded, but he didn’t look happy. Edain sighed.

“Let’s get out of here. This conversation is getting depressing.”

He and Mik climbed out of the window, and up to Edain’s bedroom. Below them, the conversation went on until the wee hours of the night. But Edain went to sleep calmly. The Doctor might be the oncoming storm, but he was also his father. He would be safe.


	7. The Warrior

It was the students who spread the news. They ran out of the Academy, down the streets, yelling in happiness.

“We are at war! Gallifrey has declared war to Skaro! The timelock is on already! At arms!”

From the windows, the gallifreyans cheered the students. Some put up flags and praised the Senate for finally taking action. Arcadia celebrated the war if they’d already won it.   
The reaction wasn’t quite the same for Edain and his parents. The clouds on the Doctor’s face became even grayer, and the scowl that appeared on his face wouldn’t leave for a long time. Most gallifreyans hadn’t experienced war in the flesh, or they had forgotten about it. The Doctor and Lune were exceptions to this rule, and had taught their children well. So while Gallifrey rejoiced, the Doctor’s family fortified their houses and held their children tight.

The first fights took place far from Gallifrey. The High Command sent troops to Skaro, where the daleks were organizing themselves. 

Runa managed to stay away from them, since both her and her husband were at the army and Cahay was still underage. Ledakan wasn’t so lucky.

“He calls from Skaro every day” Cahay told Edain one night, when he and Runa visited. “Says everything’s alright.”

Edie had a feeling Ledakan wasn’t being completely honest with his son. The Doctor had made a quick trip to the battlefields, and didn’t seem as optimistic. He had assured Edain that his brother-in-law was alright, though.

Runa looked exhausted, but didn’t fail to visit Edain in his workshop downstairs. 

“Runa!” Edain got out of the spaceship’s frame and ran to hug his sister “I thought you had already left!”

“Me?” she smiled, and if Edain hadn’t been that smart he might not have noticed how painful her smile was. “I couldn’t leave without seeing my little brother, could I?”

“Well, I thought because you have a lot of work…”

“Shut up, Edie.” This time the smile was a little more genuine. “Come on, show me the changes you’ve made since I was last here.”

Her expression was clear. She was scared, but didn’t show it for the others. Well, if Runa could be strong, then so could Edain. He swallowed his own fear and started explaining the mechanics of his spaceship. If Runa was bored at any moment, she didn’t show it.

It soon became clear to everyone that the war was going to take a lot longer than what the Senate had already promised. The fight left Skaro, getting closer and closer to Gallifrey. More troops were movilised, this time including Runa, and the timelords were warned: if the war kept on going, they would have to enlist in the army as well.

But the war wasn’t real to Edain until one day, a stranger arrived at the house.

As he was home alone, he was the one who answered the door.

“Hello?” 

At the door there was a man dressed in a red waistcoat with the symbol of the High Command. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of Edain, and sighed.

“I come from the city with a message for your dad” he said in a high-pitched voice, as if talking to a toddler. “Can you call your dad for me, please?”

“He’s not home, but you can give me the message and I’ll get it to him.” Edain tried not to get offended too quickly. After all, he looked like a kid.

“Sorry, sport, but this is just for grown-ups.” the messenger replied. “When will he come?”

“I’m one hundred and thirteen, mate. I reckon I can handle that. And as for when he’ll arrive, I don’t think even he knows it. Just give me the message, it’s much easier.”

“One hundred and thirteen?” the messenger looked startled for a second. “Wait a moment. You’re the Ankuris, aren’t you?”

“Yep. And I assure you even I can do something as simple as passing on a message. You have it written, right?”

“But you’re an Ankuris.” 

“Really? No way. Are you going to deliver the message or not? Cause I got things to do, and I don’t like wasting my time.”

The messenger took an envelope out of his bag and held it under Edain’s nose.

“Do you swear you’ll give this to your father as soon as he arrives?”

“Of course I will. Geez, hasn’t anyone told you that kid doesn’t equal stupid?” 

The messenger rolled his eyes, but gave him the letter. 

“Be careful. Remember, it’s from Gallifrey’s High Command.”

Edain decided not to say his fifth witty response in the conversation and shut the door.

“People can be very annoying, you know” he said to Mik. The monkey nodded seriously in agreement. “Well, let’s hope that message isn’t very bad news.”

Needless to say, they were.

It was obvious from the moment the Doctor arrived home.

“Ed! Do you know who left this message here?”

“Some guy from the High Command. And hello, by the way.”

“Hi” the Doctor smiled and hugged him with one arm, but he wasn’t really paying attention to Edain. “Yeah, it looks impo…” his voice trailed off.

“What’s wrong? Dad?”

But his dad wasn’t listening. His face had turned white, and he seemed to be very, very far away. 

“Dad!” Edain shook him frantically. “Dad, you’re scaring me! What’s going on?”

The Doctor seemed to come back with a huge effort. He looked right at Edain, and Ed saw something he’d never seen in his eyes: fear. The Doctor gasped for air, and suddenly Edie found himself squeezed in his father’s arms. The Doctor was murmuring something that sounded like a prayer, too low for Edain to hear.

“Dad?” 

The Doctor sighed and let him go. He still looked scared, but it was different. Edain felt a knot in his stomach, even though he didn’t know why. His father knelt, positioning himself at Edie’s level, and put his hands on his shoulders.

“Ed, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay here anymore. The war isn’t going well and they need my help.”

“But you don’t like wars. You always say we should never carry guns.”

“And I still think that. But sometimes… Sometimes, Edie, you have to do things you don’t like, just because there is no other choice.”

“So you’re going to war.”

“Yes. Will you be okay?”

Edie wanted to say no. He wanted to hide and cry and be a little boy, and get his dad to stay home. But he remembered Runa’s face the last time she had been home. She was strong because her kids needed her, and now dad needed Edain. 

“I’ll be fine” he lied, and even managed a smile. “What about mum? Won’t you say goodbye to her?”

Dad looked relieved to hear this.

“Mum’s at work right now. It will be easy to find her and tell her the news. I’ll keep in touch, I promise.”

He breathed deeply and stood up, squaring his shoulders. He would’ve left immediately (Ed already knew how much he hated goodbyes), but Edain had thought of a question, and he just had to ask it.

“Dad…”

The Doctor turned around to face him. Ed knew each second was more painful than the previous one, but he asked anyways.

“If you are the Doctor, and doctors cure people, what are you going to do now that you’re going to war?”

His father thought about it for a second, and his expression turned darker.

“If I can’t be the Doctor, then I’ll be the Warrior.”


	8. A gift from a soldier

The war lasted so long there came a moment when Edain couldn’t remember what peace felt like. Going to the city, exploring other places, asking questions without fearing the answers. It was all gone, lost in his memories, as if they were hidden in dark smoke. 

He had stayed at home for hundreds of years. The four hundredth anniversary of the War Declaration was coming up, and it didn´t look like his family would be there with him.   
The house was completely empty, except for him, but he couldn’t remember what life was like when his parents and siblings were there. Mum had been the last to leave him, 174 years earlier. That had been the last call to arms for adults. Now, the only soldiers that engrossed Gallifrey’s army were Academy graduates.

There were more of those than a foreigner would’ve imagined. Most of the weapons used in battle were time-consuming. They didn’t hurt physically, but de-aged whoever set them off. Repeated exposure could turn someone into a child, and force them to grow up again. Because of this, Gallifrey was more full of children than ever, and the Academy flourished.

Ainur was one of the most affected by the time weapons. A bomb one of his comrades set off too soon had turned him back into an eight-year-old, ready for the Academy. Edain had visited him a couple of times, and played big brother for his big brother. That’d been almost three hundred years before, and Ainur had returned to the battlefield a long time ago.

Edie received a lot of messages from all his family, bringing news about the state of the war. Dad asked about him, what he was doing, if he had any new projects. Mum told stories of the war, but they were obviously sugarcoated, as if Edain wasn’t going on his 500th birthday. He doubted anybody would be there for that, too.

He’d managed to keep himself busy over the years. He’d finished his spaceship before his two hundredth birthday, and had named her Ona. She’d turned out exactly like he’d imagined, and now he was busy furnishing her, which was way harder to do in war than in peace. Still, slowly but surely, Ona was becoming Edain’s home much more than the old family home. Mik’s new android buddies, a mini dragon called Yan and a chameleon called Dee, both crafted by Edie himself, spent countless hours roaming inside, helping Ed with the details. Mik was still very attached to Ed, and wouldn’t leave his side unless it was absolutely necessary. Ed suspected the arrival of Dee and Yan had made him jealous, but didn’t say anything. 

They were so comfortable home Ed would’ve spent the whole war there, if it had depended on him. But food didn’t last forever, no matter how well he rationed it, and he had to eat. 

So that’s how, one day the bombs weren’t so frequent, Edie left the house on his hoverbike, with Mik on his shoulder and a bag strapped to his back. 

Arcadia was in a much worse state than he remembered. The shield had been damaged on the east side, which was now full of troops in constant battle against the daleks. He would’ve loved to avoid them, but it was impossible. The quickest way of getting under the shield was entering the city through the north east, just a few blocks away from the fight. 

He just happened to arrive while the soldiers repelled a group of daleks. They were so close the shootings and screams of “Exterminate!” deafened him. He stopped next to an abandoned building. 

“Alright, buddy” he said, and placed Mik on his lap. “Stay here, and don’t let go of me. Understand?”

Mik nodded very seriously.

“Great. Cause we’re about to get super close to the daleks, and I‘m going to drive this thing at maximum speed. And I really don’t want you to fall off.”

Said and done, he accelerated to maximum and set off, crossing the streets as fast as he could. He would’ve made it out of the fight zone in five minutes if a couple of soldiers hadn’t stopped him.

“Hey, kid!” yelled one of them. “It’s forbidden to go this way! Stop the bike!”

Edie stopped.

“What do you mean it’s forbidden? I need to get to the center.”

“You’re not from here, are you?” said the soldier. “There’s a barricade on that street, and we can’t let you go through it.”

Edain sighed exasperated. 

“Then what do I do?”

“Uh…”

Then a familiar voice interrupted them. 

“What’s going on here?”

Ed’s heart jumped with joy.

“Thais!”

His sister’s face lit up. She sent away the two soldiers, showing off her colonel badge. 

“I’ll take care of this from now on” she said, and the two soldiers left immediately. Thais hugged Edie and took him behind another building, a bit sheltered form the fight.   
“Okay, young man, explain yourself” she demanded, but she didn’t look angry. Ed told her everything in a few words. 

Thais tapped on her chin.

“I see. Well, there is a way for you to get past this, don’t worry. But when you go back home, make sure you get out through another exit. This place is more dangerous than the road home, got it?”

Ed nodded. Thais climbed on the bike and Edie wrapped his arms against her waist. 

“Ready?”

“Ehh… Fine, go for it.”

The corner of her mouth twitched into a smile, and she started off the bike. They zoomed around the buildings, far from the fight, Mik inside Ed’s shirt, scratching his chest with his metal nails. As for Edie, he was clinging to his sister for dear life, wishing they would stop. He was still a little boy, after all. 

Finally Thais stopped the bike. Edain let go of her, cautiously. Mik’s head popped out of Ed’s collar, trembling. The sounds of the fight had almost faded, and the dalek ships were no longer visible. 

Thais got off the bike and hugged Edain. Suddenly, she looked sad. 

“Be safe, Edie, got it? I think you can go on your own from this point.”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

She didn’t seem to believe him. 

“Just keep yourself safe, okay? And take care of the house, I’ll have a thousand stories to tell you when this war is over.”

Edie managed a smile. For some reason, he had a knot in his stomach.

Thais kissed him on the forehead.

“See you in a couple of months, monkey.”

Edain didn’t answer. He stayed on the bike, watching his sister as she walked away, back into the fight, his vision blurry with tears.

It was the last time he ever saw her.

The streets seemed to go silent after Thais’ departure. Edain would’ve probably stayed there longer, but another voice brought him back to reality.

“Help! Help, please!”

There was a soldier lying on the floor of a nearby street. He was clearly wounded, and fatally. Edie got off his bike and approached him. The soldier looked at him with utmost relief. 

“Hey, boy” he said, coughing. “Please don’t be afraid.”

Edie knelt beside him. The soldier was tall, even for adult standards, with dark skin and really short hair. His red uniform was wet with blood.

“You shouldn’t talk.” Edie said. “It’ll only be worse.”

“Oh, I’m already dying” he answered, so peacefully Edie stared at him in surprise. “I just have something for you.”

“For me? But you don’t even…”

“Know you. Yes, I know. But it’s for you.”

The soldier raised his hand and took off the pendant he was wearing. 

It was really simple: just a grey, black and white stone attached to a string of leather. The soldier placed it on Edain’s hand, and the boy observed the stone was carved with symbols he’d never seen before.

“This is Emrys” the soldier said, his voice weak. “It will give you hope in times of fear and light in times of darkness.” He held Edain’s hand, his whole body shaking. “Don’t lose it.”  
“But…”

“I didn’t think it worked it either” the soldier said. He coughed again, and the floor was suddenly covered in blood drops. “And I haven’t taken it off in hundreds of years. Just promise me one thing: that you will only give it away when you no longer fear anything, or when you die. Promise me.”

“I…I promise” Edie said, his voice cracking.

The soldier smiled one last time. 

“Thank you.” The light in his eyes faded, and his hand went slack.

He was dead.

Edie stood up in silence. He put on the pendant mechanically. 

Emrys, the soldier had said. It will give you hope in times of fear.

Given the state of things, he could definitely use some hope. 

He left without a word, suddenly feeling very old. 

It was only a few hours later when he realized he didn’t know the soldier’s name. He hadn’t asked, and now he would never know.   
He named him Olek, gallifreyan for hope.


	9. Goodbye, Gallifrey

After that day, and despite Thais’ promise that they would meet each other soon, the war only got worse. The shields protecting Arcadia, Antares and every other gallifreyan city weakened. The daleks had taken the war to Gallifrey, and they didn’t want to leave. 

The army fought them relentlessly, but there were no more strategies, no more clever tricks. Gallifrey’s High Command gave permission for the utilization of the Seven Sisters, and the Nightmare Child. All of the Time Lords’ deadliest weapons were used against the daleks. 

There were rumors of a particular man, a freelance soldier, a general who didn’t belong in the army. They claimed he was responsible for the destruction of Skaro, the home planet of the dalek race. They called him the Destroyer of the Worlds.

Edain had a pretty accurate idea regarding the identity of said man, but he didn’t know what to think of it. He wanted to be proud that his father was leading the fight against the monsters, but part of him knew that most of his father’s actions weren’t something to be proud of.

He wondered it, given the chance, his father would choose to save a life, rather than end it.

Ed’s 500th birthday came and went, and there were no surprise visits, like he imagined. He celebrated it in Ona’s console room, with Mik, Dee and Yan. The androids didn’t eat, so he had a cupcake while they played. It wasn’t a big celebration, but he’d gotten used to ignoring his birthdays (they were just too close to one another) and, after all, there was a war going on. It really wasn’t a time for celebrations. 

Just three days later, the shield of Arcadia fell, and the daleks got into the city.

He’d never been so happy to live outside the city, where nobody noticed him. He stacked up Ona with food, and finished getting his baggage inside. Finally, he closed the door. He didn’t know it at the time, but he wouldn’t leave the spaceship in a very, very long time. 

The final fight of the Time War lasted three days. With the shield gone, the sounds of the fight reached the house, haunting Edie’s dreams. He spent the three days with their nights at the console room, sending frantic messages to every member of his family, but received no answer. Everyone was silent.

At the end of the third day, when the second sun was setting, the screen turned red, and a loud beep, beep! filled the spaceship. Someone was trying to communicate with him.  
Edie ran to the screen, his heart racing.

“Open communications barrier.”

The screen cleared. His father appeared before him. His beard was long and untidy, there were purple bags under his eyes, and he looked like every horror from hell was following him. 

“Ed, this is important” he said, almost out of breath. “If you aren’t in Ona already, get inside and leave Gallifrey. Now.”

“What?”

“The whole planet is going to be destroyed” the Doctor said, without looking at him. Only then did Edain realise this was a recorded message. “There will be a crack in the time lock in nine seconds time. That’s your only chance of escape, and you must get there in time. Hurry.”

“But…”

“Please, Edie, hurry, I can’t lose you” he sighed, and Edain saw tears in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Ed, but you have to try. I love you.”

The message ended.

Edie stood in silence, looking at the now black screen. He would’ve probably wasted all his time, but the androids saved him. Mik pinched his ears. Yan climbed his head and tapped him on the forehead. Dee squeaked to call his attention. 

“Right” he set off automatically, barely aware of what was happening. Ona caught speed. Edie turned on all the shields and braced himself. 

Ona passed by the dalek ships at full speed, dodging almost every shot. Edie looked at the timer. He had five seconds. 

Ona shook. They had been hit. Edie gritted his teeth, but didn’t slow down. 

Four seconds. Mik had hidden inside Ed’s shirt again. The other two held on to Edain’s ankles as tight as possible. 

Three seconds. He could see the crack forming on the surface of the timelock.

Two seconds. They were racing towards it at full speed. If the crack didn’t open…

One second. Edie held on to the controls, his eyes closed. 

Zero.

Ona slipped through the crack and into the darkness. The crack closed right behind the spaceship. Ona crumbled with the force of the timelock. One of the walls fell on Edain, slamming him against the controls.

“No…”

An explosion so big its energy could have used up twelve hundred suns blasted through the crack, shaking Ona even more. Edie, crushed between the wall and the console, couldn’t breathe. He struggled to free himself, only hitting himself in the process. He cried in pain.

He felt the regeneration energy coming through his body. 

Gallifrey, he thought.

Then everything went dark.


	10. Silence

Ona roamed silently across the sky. Her spherical surface was dented by the bombs. The paint had fallen off in some places. The circular door, the windows and every single joint was black from the fires. She had definitely seen better days.

And yet, she kept on. Damaged, but alive.

The problem was, she was pretty much the only thing in movement for many, many miles. The explosion had turned the world silent. There was not a sound. Not even inside Ona.

That was when Edain opened his eyes. 

He was lying on the floor, face up, barefoot and wearing ripped clothes. He could still feel the residual energy from the regeneration, tingling down his veins. He was strangely dizzy, probably a side effect of the regeneration, and he knew he was missing something, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what.

He started checking his new body. Five fingers on each hand. Five toes on each foot. Two arms. Two legs. One head. Two eyes, same size. Nose. Mouth, just one tongue. Short hair, so he couldn’t see the colour. The clothes were a bit big for him, so he must be shorter now.

He scanned the room, trying to figure out what had happened. 

One of the wall panels had fallen out of place and smashed on the console, damaging about one third of it. At least it wasn’t the brakes, or the starting level. The floor and ceiling were damaged too, still partly burning. Jeez, he had certainly made a mess. 

And he still couldn’t remember what was wrong. He sat up and found Mik still inside his shirt. The monkey fell on his lap, trembling. Edie took him in his arms and realised he was shaking too. What the hell had happened?

“It’s alright, buddy” he said, and his new voice sounded so strange he still didn’t see the obvious.

“We’ll be fine.” His voice broke the silence again, and the realisation struck him. 

Silence.

Not a single noise. It was so weird, so unnatural, that he almost had to lie down again. He had never experienced complete silence. There had always been something else. A noise in his head, like somebody humming. A sign that there were timelords out there. And it was gone.

He staggered to his feet and stumbled to the remains of the console. Yan was there, scared to death but otherwise fine. Edie lifted him and placed one android on each of his shoulders. Dee was nowhere to be seen. 

Edie took a deep breath and switched on the screen. The usual data survey in circular gallifreyan appeared in front of him. But he wasn’t in the mood for reading stats. 

“Ona?”

His voice was shaking again, but it wasn’t in shock. He was terrified. 

He noticed something warm on his chest. He looked down in surprise. Emrys had heated up. He would’ve wondered why, or how, but at that moment he didn’t mind. 

It will give you hope in times of fear, Olek had said. Well, right now he needed hope. He clutched the pendant with his free hand and tried breathing again. 

“Okay, let’s do this.”

He opened outside view.

At first he thought he’d done something wrong, because what he saw didn’t make sense. Then again, the silence in his head didn’t either. 

There was nothing in front of him. 

The place where Gallifrey had stood just the day before was empty. There wasn’t even a trace. No rocks, no leftover dalek ships. Nothing.

He closed his eyes, and the last five minutes he had spent conscious replayed in his mind. The message, the crack in the timelock, the explosion.

Gallifrey was gone.

He leaned on the console, shaking from head to toe. It was like the walls of the spaceship were closing in on him. He gasped for air and found himself crying.

Everybody was gone. Everything and everyone. There was only him. Little Edain, with a sphere and two androids. 

I am the last one, he thought. I am the last of the timelords.

His knees failed him. He fell on the floor, trembling as if with a fever.

There is no one else, he thought.

And he cried.

\----------

He woke up.

He hadn’t expected to. He wasn’t supposed to. 

He supposed he deserved it. He had wanted to die with Gallifrey, and his punishment was life.

He stood up. His old clothes felt weird on his new body. He would never get used to regenerating, no matter how many times he did it. He needed to get new clothes. Something comfortable would be great, but he might keep the jacket. It’d always been too big for him, anyways. 

He went to the console. Piloting would distract him. According to the data, he was close to Earth. Year 2005. He’d obviously jumped into the Time Vortex after the explosion, and ended up in one of his most common destinations.

But today Earth was the last place he wanted to be. Just thinking of humans reminded him of Gallifrey. He saw Lune in every woman that crossed his mind. She’d had dark, curly hair, and brown eyes the colour of coffee beans mixed with honey. He didn’t even need to close his eyes to see her. Her laugh was like the sun, and her voice rivalled the music of the universe itself. And she was gone. Turned to dust. To nothingness.

He clenched his fists and noticed he was crying. The floor was wet where he had woken up, and he remembered flying out of Gallifrey, escaping through the crack. Crying himself to sleep.

He kicked the console in frustration and cried when the pain struck him. He’d probably broke his hand, but it didn’t matter. The physical pain was just a distraction. 

The silence was the worst part. His head had never been so quiet. There was no noise, nothing that indicated that other timelords lived. If there was anyone left, they were out of his reach. 

His hand had already healed with the regeneration energy. He closed his eyes. He was so tired…

The faces of his children appeared in the darkness. All of their faces, growing and changing. Runa, so strong, so brave from the first day. Ainur, with his imagination and his fantasies, always amazed by the beauty in everything. Thais, his sweet girl. She always had a comforting word. And Edain. Oh, Edie… He had tried to warn him. He’d risked his plan only to send him a message, and he was still gone. He pictured Edie taking off, thinking he would live, and realising he wasn’t going to make it. Somehow, that was the worst option. 

Just one life! One! Why couldn’t he have that? Just Edie, please. He didn’t even know who he was pleading to. Please! He didn’t deserve it, he was just a boy.

He sunk on a chair, his head in his hands. He cried for a long, long time, until he ran out of tears and his soul was so tired it went numb. 

The he rose, squared his shoulders and pursed his lips. Loneliness was his punishment, but nobody else needed to suffer. From now on, he would try to make things right again.   
From now on, he would be the Doctor.

\----------

In the console room of Ona, Edain cleared the tears from his face. He could see the two suns rising through the windows, and Emrys seemed to capture their warmth, giving him new hope. 

It was a new day. A new opportunity. He pictured his family, back when there was no war, no pain, and no worries, and in that moment he knew it would always hurt.

“It hurts because I loved them”, he murmured, and this time his voice sounded actually his. “As long as I love them, it will always hurt.”

He would make them proud, he thought. He would live for them, so that wherever they were, if they were looking at him, they would be happy.

He held Emrys close to his heart. The pendant shone like a third sun, and finally, Edain smiled. 

After all, there was always hope.


	11. The Robinson of Space

Edain’s new life as the last of the timelords had a tough start. He found Dee under the remains of the fallen wall. He’d been trapped in the explosion, and there wasn’t much of him left. Poor Dee’s head had been smashed, and all the vital controls were completely useless now. 

“Oh, Dee” Edie murmured, holding the body of the android. Mik and Yan, each on ono of his shoulders, looked at him as if asking if he could fix him.

“I’m sorry, guys.” Edain shook his head. “There’s not enough of him left. I’d have to rebuild him from scratch, and I can’t do that now. We have bigger problems.”

The other two just looked at him sadly.

“Well, if I have to say goodbye, I’ll do it now, at least.”

He went to the living room (yes, there was one, I did mention Ona was bigger on the inside) and lit the fireplace. Dee was an android, but he could at least have a gallifreyan funeral. 

Once the fire was hot, he placed Dee in it carefully. 

“Goodbye, Dee”, he said. He’d only had the chameleon for a couple of years, but it was still hard to say goodbye to him. The last victim of the fall of Gallifrey.

On his left shoulder, Yan whimpered. Edie put him and Mik on the floor, next to the fire. Then he left the room. He’d had enough goodbyes to last a lifetime. 

Once that was over, he turned his efforts to fixing Ona. 

It was soon obvious that he needed to land as soon as possible. Not only that, but it would be a long time before he could properly fly. According to the stats, the closest planet was Endemira, in the Hyperion system.

“It’s not real big, but it’ll do” he told Mik, who was back at his usual place on Edie’s shoulder. “There’s not much people there, you know. It’s the year 5048, a community of scientists has been here studying the zone for about three years. It was on one of the books at home’s library.”

Mik squeaked sarcastically.

“I do know not everything on books is real, dummy. But for you information, grandpa wrote this one. Besides, we have no choice.”

He turned and called: “Yan! Come here or you’ll get hurt!”

The dragon jumped on his shoulders and Edain took control of the ship.

Wibbly lever. Slow down. Buttons three, nine and six. He loved flying. He had so focused it was hard to think of anything else. Now buttons two, six and four. Wibbly lever again, they were entering the atmosphere. Switch off the brakes. Blue lever up. Thirty seconds, and blue lever down. The surface was close. Button number one, and make sure the shields are switched on. They were. 

Ona landed on the surface of Endemira with a crash, leaving a crater in the middle of the forest. Edie sighed. There was only so much one could do with a damaged spaceship.  
All the lights inside Ona turned off. The effort had been too much, and she needed fixing. Edain opened the door (manually, there was no electricity) and looked outside for the first time.

They’d crash-landed in the heart of a forest, in the middle of the summer. The trees were two or three times than those in Gallifrey. Some had green leaves and were full of fruits, and the shortest ones had purple leaves, as big as Edie’s face. The tops of the trees were full of nests, but they weren’t occupied by birds: instead, dozens of dragons of all colours, the biggest the size of a horse and the smallest the size of a Chihuahua, flew among the trees. 

Edain couldn’t move. He could only stare at the scene, eyes wide open, wishing he had ten more eyes to see everything. Eventually, he remembered what he was doing there and climbed out of Ona, holding both androids in his arms. Yan couldn’t take his eyes off the other dragons, and screamed continuously, trying to attract their attention. 

Edain had never been so amazed, nor had he ever felt so small. He walked through the forest, eyes fixed on the animals. But the dragons were peaceful, and none of them attacked. 

He kept walking until he found a river. The water was clean, and seemed safe to drink. There weren’t any fish, but that was a good sign. First rule of drinking water from the rivers: if there are fish, be careful. 

Well, now that he’d found water, he could establish his base camp. Not just because he needed to fix his spaceship, but because right now he was burning up with tons of questions and, as if following his father’s footsteps, about ninety percent of them had to do with the new planet he was on, not Ona. Did the dragons spit fire? And if they did, why did they live in a forest? If they didn’t, then what species where they? Where did the bigger dragons build their nests? Where there any other animals in the forest? And how come some trees had purple leaves?

Yep, he was definitely staying in the forest for a while. After all, he was in no hurry to fix Ona, was he? There was no one waiting for him.

A couple of days passed by, and he started to regain a sense of normalcy. He developed a new daily routine, and got used to the fact that there was no war on Endemira. At first he thought the place was too silent, and then he realised he couldn’t hear bombs anywhere near. The air was clean, free of smoke, and the biggest problem he could have was getting caught outside Ona without a light when the sun set. Endemira was a completely peaceful planet, and the only traces of the war were his nightmares.

Still, it got better with time. He found out with joy that investigating his new environment could help him fix Ona, and got to it happily. And while he fixed his ship, his soul started healing.

He found out that the dragons (they were actually dragons, they spat fire) could live in the forest because the trees were fire-resistant, and that he could use the wood for the new wall panels that would go in the console room.

All the nests he’d seen had been built by the smaller dragons, who lived in the treetops. And the big ones? He discovered their refuges by accident. They dug holes each night, and slept underground. In the mornings, they refilled the holes, so Edie only found out one night he fell in an occupied hole and had to run for his life to get rid of a very angry dragon. Lesson number one: dragons hate to be rudely awakened.

The bigger dragons left their eggs in holes as well, but didn’t bury them, and they abandoned the shells as soon as the eggs hatched. It took Edie fourteen tries with different materials to see the egg shells were perfect for substituting the burned controls. 

It took him time and effort, but after a few months he could finally switch Ona back on and admire his work. 

She’d been completely redone, outside and inside, and everything had been accomplished with materials from the forest. Edie knew he would’ve done a much better job had he had all the resources he had at home, but the final result wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was fantastic.

And, in the end, there came a day in which Edie took Mik and Yan, got inside Ona, and said goodbye to the forest. 

Next stop: the scientific base.


	12. John Smith

The scientific base was a few miles away from the forest, in the middle of an otherwise completely empty piece of land. Okay, there was grass, so tall it covered Edie’s knees, and a few rocks here and there, but that was it. After the exuberance of the forest, this place looked lonely. Seriously, who would choose that location to set up the base? Edain would never understand humans, to be honest. They made some weird choices sometimes. 

At least the base wasn’t one of those big, shiny metallic buildings with weird shapes Edie hated so much. It was made out of wood from the forest (good choice, he definitely agreed with that) and composed by a bunch of semi-spherical domes of different sizes “planted” next to each other. The windows were round and small, and there were two spaceships parked next to the base. 

He left Ona hidden behind a rock, right before leaving the forest. According to his grandfather’s notes, the people in the base were friendly, but he still couldn’t be sure of what he was going to find. 

After shutting down the ship, he marched towards the base. Mik occupied his usual spot on Edie’s shoulder, but Yan decided to fly for a while.

Sure enough, Yan was the first to be spotted.

“Dragon!” someone yelled, and there was a blast two meters above Yan’s head. Edain panicked.

“Yan! Come down!”

He pressed a button on the remote control he always wore on his wrist, and Yan dropped from the sky right into his arms, grunting furiously for not being able to fly.

The blasts continued, so Edie threw himself on the floor with both androids until there was silence again.

“Jeez, these people really hate dragons.”

He got to his feet warily. There were two humans standing a hundred meters in front of him, holding guns. Edie sighed and put his arms up.

“I don’t mean any harm!” he shouted. “Can I come closer?”

The humans didn’t lower their guns, but one of them nodded, so Edain walked the distance in between them.

Both humans were women. The tallest had long ginger hair, tied up in a thick braid, and pale skin. Her outfit was completely black: jeans, boots, t-shirt and jacket, which made her round face look a bit like a moon. 

The other woman had brown hair, and her eyes were two different colours: one brown, and one grey. Her hair was as short as Edie’s, and her clothes were like her companion’s, except for the t-shirt, which was red.

“Who are you?” asked the ginger one.

“John Smith.”

The answer came out before he could even think of what he was saying. That was the name his dad used to give people when he went undercover. He struggled to swallow the knot that had suddenly formed in his throat.

“John Smith? What kind of answer is that?”

“That’s my name” Ed said, trying to sound as confident as possible. “You almost killed my android.”

“It’s an android?” the short one intervened. “We thought it was a Green Death. Did you build it?”

“Green Death? What’s a Green Death?”

“A species of dragon. Haven’t you seen them? Or you don’t come from the forest?”

“Oh, you mean the green and gold ones that live in the sycamores?” How somebody could call those dragons Green Death, he had no idea. They were more like Green Acrobats, Edie thought. Those things flew so well it was like a dream. Humans were definitely impossible to understand.

“Those, exactly. But wait, you come from the forest? How are you alive?” asked the ginger one.

“How am I…? Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like the dragons are mass murderers or anything.”

The two women looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Come with us” said the short one, and Edie noticed she was wearing a badge on her jacket. She was some sort of authority, but he couldn’t remember what the symbol stood for. Brigadier? Maybe she was a sub officer. What was the army doing there? After the Time War, he’d had enough armies for a lifetime. 

None of the women spoke on the way to the base. Edie kept Mik and Yan secure in his arms, trying to remember what he’d read about Endemira’s scientists.

They finally arrived. The domes were much bigger than what he’d initially thought, and there was a sign above the doorway: “Welcome to Base 19AX of the Great and Bountiful Human Empire”.

Edie whistled in appreciation. The first Human Empire was one of his favourite parts of history. It was the age when space travel merged with time travel, with the foundation of the Earth Space Council and the Time Agency, and the joint of the latter with the army. The second empire was a bit rubbish, with the discovery of the oods and their imprisonment, but the first one was great.

The two women took him into the biggest dome, obviously the most important one, and Edie discovered with relief that he hadn’t been wrong about Base 19AX being occupied by scientists.

The room they got to was circular (it occupied the entire base of the dome), with stairs on the walls to get to the upper floors. There was a table in the middle, probably used for meetings, but there were scientific posters on the walls, and in the second half of the circle someone had left a bunch of telescopes right in front of a board full of articles on dragon anatomy and Endemira’s gravity. Still, there were too many soldiers for his liking.

There were about a dozen people sitting at the middle table. The surface of the table was full of maps and graphs, and everyone seemed to be arguing.

“It’s too dangerous!” said a man in the same black attire as the two women (minus a green t-shirt). He stood up, and slammed his hands on the table. “There’s no way we’re letting you do it!”

“Calm down, commandant” intervened the woman who was sitting in front of him. “We have reasons to believe the fauna isn’t really that dangerous, and you already know them. The only thing we ask for is an expedition.”

“There’s no need to fight for this” said a woman in the blue jacket of the Time Agency. “We’re all sensible people, and I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”

It seemed as if the commandant wanted to reply, but the other time agent spotted Edie and the two soldiers, and smiled playfully.

“Partners, it looks like we have a visitor” he said standing up, and left the table to greet them. “Good afternoon, ladies. Care to come to the table and tell us about your discoveries?”

The other time agent sighed deeply.

“Captain, this is really not the moment…”

“I was just saying hello, Ellen. We have to be welcoming with our guests, don’t we?”

The woman didn’t answer, but she looked very tired. The captain went back to his seat, and the two women, suddenly very flustered, approached the table and explained what had happened.

As soon as they were done, everyone started asking questions. Had he lived in the forest for more than a day? How had he avoided the dragons? How many species had he seen? How did the live? And most importantly, what species was he?

There were so many adults looking at him that Edie took a step back, intimidated.

The captain rose from his seat again and put a hand on Edie’s shoulder.

“We’re scaring, him, people. Let’s give him a little space.” He didn’t act flirty, which Edie liked. That kind of love wasn’t something he understood. “What’s your name?”

“Um, John Smith. But everybody calls me Jack”, he corrected immediately. John was a name for grownups. Edie was anything but that.

The captain grinned. He bent down to be on the same level as Edain and winked, as if they shared a secret.

“Welcome to Base 19AX, Jack Smith” he said, and shook his hand. “Let me be the first to greet you. My name is Captain Jack Harkness.”


	13. Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow

“Captain, please sit down”, ordered the commandant. “The boy has survived alone in the forest, he can answer the questions without help.”

Captain Harkness rolled his eyes, but his grin didn’t fade.

“Of course, sir, I never doubted it. Just wanted to make sure young Jack here was comfortable.”

Funny thing, no one at the table seemed to believe him. But he sat down, and Edie swallowed. He was suddenly very conscious about his own appearance, even though he hadn’t cared about it for months. He didn’t know that much about humans, but he was sure his new body wasn’t normal under Earth standards. The pale skin could pass as unusual, but at least the last time he’d seen his own hair it’d been as white as paper. That was weird in kids, right?

“Jack, I’m commandant Usman, head of the military in this base. We don’t want to harm you” said the commandant, in that awful high-pitched voice adults used with little kids. 

“We just need you to answer some questions, alright?”

“Yes, commandant. But I would like to ask you some questions, too, if that’s alright.”

His hands were sweaty, so he slipped them inside his pockets. He had to act confident, or they would treat him like a baby for however long he stayed there. Problem was, he was more than a little nervous.

If the adults were surprised, they didn’t show it.

“It is, Jack, of course you can” continued the commandant. He was sitting up right now, as if he was taking Edain more seriously. “How about you sit with us and we can have a conversation like civilised people?”

Success. Edie nodded with a smile and sat on the nearest empty chair, next to Ellen. This was going to be a very long conversation.

“Are you really just ten years old?”

“Yes…”

“And you’re only partially human?”

“Yes…”

“On your father’s side, is that correct?”

“Yes…”

Edie sighed. It was the third time someone asked him the exact same questions. They’d been at the table for hours, and he was getting hungry.

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead…”

“Isn’t there anybody taking care of you?”

“No…”

“What are your intentions on this planet?”

“I’ve told you five times already, I’m just a traveller. You know, if you wanted to look for inconsistencies in my story you could ask harder questions. It’d be more interesting for all of us.”

“This is a security protocol, Jack. We have to follow the rules because…”

“Right, sorry. I forgot all security protocols have specific instructions for when a kid shows up at your base. Can’t we just speed it up? I mean, doctor Tanaka is almost asleep already, and look at captain Harkness! He’s been flirting with Professor Haile for twenty minutes at least!”

“As if that was unusual”, muttered Ellen under her breath.

Commander Usman turned red.

“If you’re going to disrespect the rules of this base, we will not allow you inside.”

Edie held back another sarcastic remark.

“I’m not trying to disrespect you, commander, but this procedure is just too slow. Isn’t there a way to-?”

An alarm cut through the air, and everyone rose from their seats. Doctor Tanaka woke up and screamed something about a toaster. Captain Harkness let go of Professor Haile’s hand and took a sonic blaster out of his pocket. The other scientists rushed to their telescopes. Commander Usman brought out a radio and started giving out orders that no one could hear. Edie left the table amidst the chaos, and reached the door to see what was going on.

He opened the door, and immediately regretted it. A cloud of dark smoke hit him, and gave him a coughing fit. His lungs burned as if he was getting sick. He pulled up his sweatshirt to stop breathing the smoke, and tried looking again. 

He couldn’t see much outside, but there were flashes of light here and there, and he felt somebody pass right next to him, even though he couldn’t see a thing. The alarm still blasted at full volume, deafening him and making it impossible to know anything else. The smoke got in his lungs despite his precautions, and his eyes were watery from the fumes. He doubled over, coughing again. 

Somebody pulled him inside.

“What are you doing?”. It was captain Harkness. He’d somehow lost his gun, and was looking at him as if he was crazy. Edie was getting real tired of that look.

They closed the door and Edain leaned against the wall, still coughing.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s the dragons”, answered the captain, running to the stairs. “And you just let their poisonous smoke inside. Good job, Jack.”

Ed didn’t bother responding. He took a look around the room. Most of the soldiers had gone outside (wearing gas masks, he noticed. Clever people), and a few of them stood at the windows, shooting at anything they could see. Outside, there was nothing but smoke and figures appearing and disappearing through it. 

The alarm finally stopped, and the noise of the fight was finally audible. There were screams, shots, roars and fire. The dome had turned into a battlefield. 

Well, that was something he understood. 

His brain started working at full speed. The base was being attacked. His androids were missing. The only tools he had were a screwdriver and a pen, and they weren’t even sonic. 

Oh, boy, he thought. This is going to be fun.

He dusted off his clothes and went to help.

He got to professor Haile first. The scientist was working on a computer, programming something as fast as he could, and it was obviously not working, judging by his face.  
Edie took a peak at the screen.

“Need any help?”

Professor Haile jumped in surprise.

“You can work with computers?”

“A bit, yeah. What’s the problem?”

“Oh, well, I can’t put up the second barriers. The system is malfunctioning.”

“Oh, damn. Alright, let’s see. You’ve restarted it, right?”

“Of course, kiddo. Three times, from different settings. Still not working.”

“Really? Well, that probably means the problem is in the program itself then. How long is it?”

“Four pages. There’s no way we can rewrite it before the second horde comes.”

“Second?”

“Yes, they come in turns. This is only the first one. They try breaking the barriers, and if we can’t put up the next ones, they’ll destroy the base. There are five barriers total, ten if you count the emergency systems.”

Edie made a face.

“Yikes. Uh… Have you checked the stability of the cables?”

“It’s fine. The problem seems to be with the energy generators.”

They stayed silent for a moment, thinking rapidly. They couldn’t fix the generators from there, could they? It was impossible to reprogram them from a distance. Unless…

“Hey”, Edie burst out. “Have you tried reversing the polarity?”

“What?”

“Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow. That’ll start the opposite generators, and put up the barriers.”

Professor Haile looked puzzled.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Give it here.” Edie didn’t wait a second. He took the computer out of the professor’s hands, and started typing as fast as he could. 

Around him, the soldiers kept the fight against the dragons. Edie saw commander Usman from the corner of his eye, looking outside the door and holding a pistol; Captain Harkness rushed past him with a grenade launcher, followed by three other soldiers; two scientists whose names he couldn’t remember had gotten hold of bulletproof vests and were still saving their projects from the fire; even professor Haile, by his side, was directing other people.

He finally finished the program, and pressed Enter.

“Go!”

There was a faint sound, and then the building trembled. Edie felt a rush of energy build up below the floor and escape outside. Some of the soldiers screamed, and the sound of the battle faded abruptly. Now, everything he could hear was the crackling fire, and fainted dragon roars. 

Professor Haile was looking at him in awe.

“Kid, you put up the barriers all at once. You really have to teach me that trick.”


	14. Three makes family

Edie had lived through enough battles to know that silence at the end wasn’t always a good thing. It could mean everyone was dead. And now Base 19AX was as quiet as Gallifrey, and he was more scared than when the dragons had attacked. 

Professor Haile sat down, panting, but Edain sprang to his feet. His androids were missing. 

“Mik!” he called, and saw a few people staring at him. “Yan! Where are you?”

He heard a chirping noise behind him, and he turned around to see Yan running toward him across the room. 

“Yan!” He took the tiny dragon in his arms and fell to the floor in relief. Yan kept chirping and squeaking and tugging at his shirt, poking holes in it with his nails. Edain hugged him tight. “You okay, buddy?”

Yan seemed alright. He was a bit dirty, and really scared, but he’d managed to stay safe even with his wings disabled. Edie turned them on again, and the android finally relaxed on his lap. 

Okay. Now he needed to find Mik. 

There was a light tap on his shoulder. Edie looked up.

“Jack.” It was Ellen, one of the time agents. Mik lay motionless in her arms, and she placed him carefully on Edain’s lap, next to Yan.

Edie couldn’t speak. Mik wasn’t dead, was he?

“I found him beside the front door”, said Ellen, her voice soft. “It looks like he followed you there and got hit.”

Edain nodded, a knot in his throat. He lifted Mik slowly. His body was cold, and felt strangely delicate on Ed’s hands. Edain gasped for air and clutched Mik against his chest, eyes closed. He could feel the tears pressing at the back of his eyes. Mik couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t, they’d been together for so long he’d memorised the ticking of his engines…

Ticking.

Edain froze. There was still a ticking noise inside Mik. It was faint, almost inaudible (Edie guessed humans wouldn’t be able to hear it), but it was there. 

He felt a new rush of adrenaline, and quickly turned Mik over. He drew a small screwdriver from his jacket pocket and opened the lid on Mik’s stomach. His fingers were trembling. The mechanism was almost dead, but there was still a light, indicating that the reactor could still work. He’d have to recalibrate it, and probably change the internal systems, but the memory disc was intact. Edie thanked his lucky stars (and his dad) that he’d taken special precautions with that part of the system. He jumped up.

“Is there anywhere I can work?2, he asked Ellen. “I need to fix my android, but I can’t do it on the floor. A table will do.”

Ellen looked surprised.

“I thought it was dead! Are you sure you can fix him?”

“Yes, I just need a little bit of time”, smiled Edie. “Do you have a workshop? I’d need some precision tools as well, and… I don’t suppose you have sandor sheets on this base, do you?”

“Sandor sheets? What’s that?”

“Oh, never mind. I’ll get some of mine”. He ran to the door.

“Wait!” Ellen grabbed him by the shoulders. “Don’t open it!”

Right, Edie remembered in dismay. The smoke. 

“You think it hasn’t cleared yet?”

“It’s been about five minutes, kiddo, and it’s not even windy. You’ll have to wait a while. Is it really urgent?”

Edie thought of the light on the PS reactor and the ruined circuits. He ached to fix them right away, but it was true that the PS could keep running for a long time. He sighed.

“No. I can wait.”

He leaned on the wall, suddenly very tired, and slid to the floor. He put his face in his hands and noticed he was crying. No, no, he didn’t want to cry.

“Jack”. It was Ellen again. She’d knelt beside him, and had a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright. You did amazing. You’ve saved us all, Jack”.

Edie tried answering, but couldn’t. he wanted to say he was fine, that it’ had been nothing, and that he wasn’t sad, but the words wouldn’t come out. He leaned onto Ellen, and she held him tight. 

“We’ll fix your android, okay?”, she murmured against his hair. “As soon as the air is clear, I’ll go with you to get what you need.”

Edie didn’t want to cry, but he was so tired, and he felt so small, and he couldn’t fix Mik, and it had been a long time since someone had hugged him like that. He closed his eyes and, just for once, he let himself rest. 

As it turned out, everyone wanted to ask him questions. It had only been ten minutes since he’d woken up (that was embarrassing, he was five hundred years old, he couldn’t go falling asleep on people) and he already wanted to go to sleep again, just to get away from the swarm of people peppering him with requests. 

Besides, he still had to fix Mik.

He made his escape through the back door thanks to Ellen. She’d clearly decided that she was her friend now (not that Edie was complaining), and had no problem in distracting commander Usman so that he would let Edie go. Edain seized his opportunity and got out.

He barely saw anything on the way back to Ona. Yan flew next to him, his metallic wings on Edain’s ear, and Mik lay motionless in his arms. Please don’t let me be late, he pleaded. His feet hit the ground so quickly he couldn’t identify individual steps. Please, please don’t let Mik die. Oh, if only he had longer legs.

He didn’t even know who he was praying to. 

His family, maybe. His father would have never let Mik die. Never.

He climbed inside Ona, panting, and left Mik on his workspace. Yan settled himself next to Mik immediately, chirping sadly. 

“I know, bud”, Edie said to him while he checked on the systems. “I’m afraid too.”

Oh, thank God. The reactor was working. 

He still stood a chance.

Back in Gallifrey, Lune used to say that whenever Edain was involved in a project, he was blind, deaf and senseless to anything else. The world could be burning, and he would have never noticed. 

For all that Edie cared now, the world could burn again. As long as Mik survived today, he was fine with it. 

He guessed that was probably why he didn’t notice the expedition approaching his spaceship until it was too late. 

He’d been connecting the last cables. Mik was one complicated little android. Edain made a mental note to secure his vital parts better, just in case. He’d had too many accidents with androids lately. The light inside the reactor had flickered (Edie had caught his breath), and then the ticking had become faster, and the light stronger. 

Then Mik had opened his eyes, and Edie and Yan had tackle-hugged him until he protested. Edain had wanted to cry in relief. They were okay, all three of them. Mik and Yan were all he had now, and they were alright. 

He held them close, and Mik climbed inside his shirt as usual, and Yan curled up against his neck. 

They were okay, and they were together. 

Right that moment, somebody screamed outside. 

Edain jumped up and hit his head against the lamp. Great. An interruption was exactly what he needed right now. Rubbing his head, he opened outside view, the scream still ringing in his ears. 

It was captain Harkness. 

“Dammit”, Edie murmured. “The shields are up”.

Ona had a really good defence system, idea courtesy of Runa. If an unwanted creature touched its surface while the third shield was up, they received an electric shock that killed small ones and threw others down screaming. It had come in handy a couple of times during the Time War.

And, of course, the first thing captain Harkness had done was to put his hand on the rail to climb inside. Edie sighed. Humans could be huge idiots sometimes.

He climbed up the stairs and snuck his head out the spaceship. 

Captain Jack was sitting on the floor, holding his arm to his chest. He was clearly still in pain, but now no one was touching Ona. Hey, at least they learned quickly. Ellen and other two soldiers stood behind Jack, and they were all looking at Edain.

“What are you doing here?” Hey, he could be rude. These people were trespassing on his spaceship.

“What was that thing?”, the captain demanded. Edie had a sudden urge to pull out a cane and scream at them to get off his lawn like a proper centenarian would do.

“It’s called a security protocol, captain”, he explained. “What do you want? I’m fixing my androids.”

Mik and Yan climbed up Edie’s shirt, just to prove a point. 

“Commander Usman wants to talk to you, Jack”, said Ellen. “We came to bring you back to the base.”

“About the shields? I told him already, I just reversed the polarity. It’s a really handy trick, I’ll teach professor Haile whenever…”

“No, not about the shields.”

Edain furrowed his brow. “What is it, then?”

The humans looked uncomfortable. 

“The Base council has decided to make an expedition to the forest. Commander Usman wants to officially ask for your help in fighting the dragons.”


End file.
